


it’s a good thing for all these plants because you steal my breath away (love flourishes at the florist’s)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Florist Eren, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 18:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4402877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi spends months visiting the flower shop with excuses to see Eren, hiding his crush behind claims of new neighbors and co-worker promotions. It isn’t until he actually has a need for the flower (for a grave of all things) that he finds out his crush might not be as hopeless as he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it’s a good thing for all these plants because you steal my breath away (love flourishes at the florist’s)

In the end, Levi almost went to another florist for the flowers.

Five months of showing up week after week, a new excuse on his lips for flowers, and now that he had an honest to God need for them, he didn’t want to show his face there. But at the same time he couldn’t stay away, a feeling stupidly like betray itching his skin when he’d Googled addresses for other florists. He sighed quietly before pushing open the door, shoulders dropping a little at the familiar chime of the bell.

Eren looked up from his position bent in half over the counter and shot him a grin, just as bright and beautiful as the first time Levi had come in. Levi swallowed, watching as Eren straightened and rocked back on his heels, dragging the text book he’d been highlighting off the counter and under, probably stored away on a shelf.

“Hey, Levi,” Eren said, eyes bright when he slumped back on the counter to his elbows as Levi approached. Levi hadn’t been able to figure out if Eren honestly preferred that position or if he was trying to let him feel tall, since the brown haired college student towered over him by several inches. Levi felt his ribs squeeze around his heart as he curled his fingers against the edge of the counter and looked down at Eren.

“Hello, Eren,” Levi said. He received a smile in response, cricked and mischievous, and it sent a shiver down his spine. He glanced around the shop, but Jean was nowhere to be found, which was how Levi preferred it to be, if he was going to be bitterly honest. Having Eren’s probably-boyfriend around made him feel guilty about how interested he was in Eren.

“So,” Eren said, dragging out the word as his grin got impossible more crooked. He was peering up at Levi through his lashes and Levi couldn’t believe his heart could function, it was beating so fast.

“What’s the occasion,” Eren asked, shifting so that his back arched a little bit more. “Another co-worker get promoted? Another new neighbor in your building? Your sister needs a pick-me-up?”

Levi hated to ruin that grin and he knew his words would, but he cleared his throat anyway. “No,” he said, shifting to look away. There was a vase with a new arrangement that Jean’s mother, the owner of the shop, had done and he reached up to touch it so that he could pretend this wasn’t a terrible idea. He definitely should have gone to a different florist, stupid betrayal feeling or not.

“It’s for my mother,” Levi said quietly. “To go on her grave.”

Eren rocked back like Levi had hit him and Levi hid a wince as the other shifted in one start-and-stop motion. He didn’t want to look at him, to see the pity on Eren’s face; he was a grown man and his mother had died long ago. But, despite the years, he still missed her and the anniversary was today. She had liked flowers, Levi remembered.

She probably would have liked Eren too.

“Oh,” Eren said, quiet and soft. Levi looked at him, because he couldn’t help it, and he ended up rocking back on his heels at the expression Eren was making. It was soft and gentle, the way his eyes darkened and his lips pressed together faintly. When he tried to smile it was small, crooked, and trembled a little at the edge. But the look in his eyes wasn’t pity, Levi realized with a gut drop feeling.

It was sympathy, instead.

“I’m pretty good at those kinds of bouquets,” Eren admitted quietly. He brushed his hands on the side of his apron and marched quietly out from around the counter. Levi twisted to watch him, leaning on numb legs back against the counter’s edge so that it dug into the small of his back. Eren took large sure strides amongst the flowers they had in the shop, ducking down to retrieve a few with steady careful hands. There were a couple of different flowers in his hands, one two that Levi recognized, before Eren started to talk.

(Eren always talked as he made bouquets, glancing over his shoulder at Levi and grinning as he talked about classes and Jean, about how he almost burnt their apartment down trying to bake a cake, about everything. It was Levi’s favorite part, Eren’s voice, Eren’s stories, _Eren_.)

“My mom loved flowers,” Eren started, voice catching a little in a way that made Levi want to tell him he didn’t _have_ to talk. But Eren’s voice had him hooked and even as he swallowed, the brunette bent over a batch of red tulips spoke.

“She gardened, when she had the time,” Eren explained. His fingers brushed the tulip’s petals gently, thumb sweeping a line up the stem that had Levi jealous. He’d never been jealous of a flower before, he thought, watching the brunette pick two flowers carefully as he spoke. “She didn’t always have the time though, but we usually had wild flowers on the table for dinner.”

The past tense wasn’t hard to spot and Levi felt a little dizzy when Eren glanced up to give him a small, joyless smile. He moved around the room in a circle, footsteps sure if slow, and Levi worked his throat around words but couldn’t speak.

“I missed the flowers on the table when she died,” Eren confessed quietly, when the silence had dragged for several long minutes. He stood up, hands full of flowers, most of which Levi couldn’t name or recognize. He came close, steps easy, and Levi could only watch, craning and twisting until he was leaning against the counter, hips digging in instead of his back. Eren carefully dropped the flowers on the counter to the left of Levi, ducking to pull out a thin glass vase from under the counter. He looked at the flowers, not glancing at Levi like he usually did, and Levi took the time to study the twist of Eren’s lips as he grinned wryly before biting the corner of his mouth.

“It was nice when Jean’s mom practically adopted me,” Eren continued. The catch in his voice smoothed out, shoulders dropping in a little shrug. His smile grew, bit by bit, until it looked almost as open as the ones he usually gave Levi when he came in. His eyes stayed sad, though, and the sight of them at war with his smile made Levi’s stomach flip.

“God only knows how she put up with both of us; we were even more obnoxious than we are now, or so Armin claims. But I guess she did alright. I mean, she figures we’re capable enough to run the shop all by ourselves, which we definitely weren’t trusted with back when we were sixteen. And she claims that she gave me this job because I had ‘good references’, but the only reference I had was her son’s boyfriend being my best friend, so that’s pretty much a lie.”

Levi blinked. Then, for good measure, he blinked again.

“Armin,” he said quietly, because he’d heard the name out of both Eren and Jean’s mouth before. Their best friend, away at a different college, he’d thought. Eren glanced up at him, eyebrows arched a little, like he could hear the tilt in Levi’s voice as he mentally reeled.

“Yeah,” Eren said, easy with another little shrug. “Armin. He and Jean have been dating since, like, sophomore year? Jean would know exactly; they got together right around the time my mom got sick, so time kind of blurred there.”

_I am an idiot_ , Levi thought miserably, doing his best not to gape at Eren as his sentence trailed off. _I am the world’s dumbest, biggest, most ridiculous idiot._

Five months he’d been visiting the flower shop, smitten with Eren’s smile after the first time needing a bouquet for Isabel’s performance, and he’d spent the entire time lamenting how fucked up he was. Beating himself up because he was crushing on someone so obviously happy in a relationship and he’d never stopped to find out if Eren and Jean were _actually fucking dating_.

Something of what Levi was feeling must have showed on his face, because Eren’s expression went crooked with confusion. “Hey,” Eren said, abandoning the flowers to duck his head down to Levi’s height, peering up at him carefully. “I’m sorry, I know I talk too much, I can-“

“I like listening to you talk,” Levi interjected quietly. He had to clear his throat, because Eren jerked his head back, blinking through long lashes, green eyes bright and captivating. Levi tore his eyes away, down to the counter where he clenched his hands, focusing on the white of his knuckles.

“Oh,” Eren said. “I like. Talking to you, actually.”

Laughter tickled Levi’s throat as a warmth bubbled in his chest. He glanced up, finding Eren still looking at him, earnest and gorgeous. He tried his best to smile, but sudden nerves made his face feel numb as Eren’s lips curled and he beamed, sunrise bright after a long night.

“So,” Eren said, turning back to the flowers with a pink sort of dust across his cheeks. He cleared his throat and Levi felt his chest clench around his fluttering heart. “What was I saying?”

“You and Jean weren’t trusted with the shop when you were sixteen,” Levi prompted, eager to hear Eren talk, even if it was about Jean. Though knowing that Jean wasn’t dating Eren made the prospect of hearing about the shop owner’s son much more bearable than it had been before.

Eren laughed, shaking his head so that his bangs swayed in his eyes. “God, we were terrible. We weren’t even trusted with last minute emergency grocery runs unless my sister or Armin were with us, because the one time we were we got into a bagel fight at the sampling station.”

“A bagel fight?”

“Yeah,” Eren said, deftly putting together the bouquet while he peeked up through lashes and bangs to grin at Levi. “There were, like, little bagel samples? And Jean said something, I don’t remember what, and I got fucking mad and scooped up this little cream cheese sample bowl and chucked it at him. And when it splattered over his face, _god_ , he made such a fucking noise, like I’d started strangling a cat.”

Levi hummed. He’d heard Jean make a noise like that a time or two, when Eren sprayed him with the hose or purposefully knocked the pen cup over so Jean had to pick it up. He laughed at the mental image, leaning his elbows on the counter and feeling his shoulders loosen until his hands laid flat against the cool wood.

“What happened,” Levi asked, watching as Eren started to pin and wrap the flowers, putting the last minute tweaks into his creation as the thin plastic crinkled in his grip.

“We got in big, big trouble for that one. The manager of the store stepped in, hauled us both to his office and called Jean’s mom. He stumbled a little bit when he asked for my mother’s number and Jean had to awkwardly tell him that she was dead, since I was shaking too much to speak. I think that’s what kept us out of most of the, like, legal trouble? Anyway Jean’s mom came down and grabbed us both up by our ears, made us go out and clean up the mess we’d made. I’m pretty sure we’re still technically not allowed in that store without supervision, even though it’s been five or six years.”

“Still? You’re still not allowed in the store?”

“Well,” Eren hedged. “I mean, we kind of go out of our way to avoid the places where we made an ass out of ourselves as teenagers. Which means driving ten minutes to the grocery store instead of two. I supposed we could just walk in but what if they tell us to get out? How embarrassing would it be to be kicked out of the grocery store?”

“Pretty embarrassing, I imagine,” Levi answered, biting his lip on a grin. “I’m impressed, though; I thought my sister had gotten into all the trouble that could be achieved growing up, but at least I never had to pick her up from the grocery store.”

Eren made a face at him before rocking back to examine his handy work with a focused, determined furrow of his brows. Levi glanced between the brunette and the vase of flowers, his heart tripping over itself as Eren carefully adjusted a pale white lily to nestle closer to the tulips and orchids. The red was the only bright color in the bouquet and Levi found himself drawn to the way the white arrangement framed the two brilliant tulips, reaching out to trace a petal with his finger.

“Do you like it,” Eren asked quietly. Levi glanced up, raising his eyebrows with a wry smile.

“I don’t know much about flowers,” Levi admitted. Eren snorted, like five months of Levi’s weekly visits hadn’t already displayed that for the world to see. “But red was my mother’s favorite color.”

“My mom’s favorite was blue,” Eren offered. He ghosted his fingers down the side of the vase before tapping his knuckles against the counter, stepping back to lean against the far counter before Levi could process was he was doing. Levi blinked at him, at the space suddenly between them, and the jittery feeling of his earlier nerves crept back in as Eren cleared his throat.

“They’re on the house,” Eren explained, nodding at the bouquet. Levi frowned, shaking his head, ready to argue when Eren laughed, a rough sound Levi hadn’t heard before. “From one kid with a dead mother to another; take the damn flowers, okay. Jean’s mom won’t mind.”

Levi sighed. He reached out, carefully curling his fingers around the bouquet before lifting it out of the preparations vase with both hands. He glanced at Eren, only to find him looking away, cheeks dusted that earlier pink Levi had half thought was his imagination.

“Thank you,” he told Eren sincerely. “They’re beautiful.”

_You’re beautiful_ , he thought quietly. But now wasn’t the time.

“No problem,” Eren said, deflating a little until he was back to slouching as he stood and grinning crookedly so that his teeth picked out. “Bye, Levi.”

“Bye, Eren,” Levi answered. He tucked the flowers in the crook of his arm and left, catching a glimpse of the way Eren bent over the counter, head ducked low through the window as he made his was down the sidewalk.

 

-

 

Levi’s hands shook around the door’s handle as he reached for it a week later. He swallowed, rough and quick, at the chime of the bell, but not even the sight of Jean sprawled against the counter at Eren’s side could make him consider turning back. Levi wasn’t even scared anymore, just wired. He could do this.

He could totally, absolutely, most certainly do this.

“Hey,” Eren said, glancing up, smile curling his lips slowly like a secret. Levi felt his stomach plummet.

_You can do this_ , he reminded himself, but his hands still shook. He took a deep breath and tried not to show how it came through clenched teeth.

“Hey,” he answered, his voice rough, the way it always went when he was nervous. Jean’s eyebrows arched in the air and Levi tried to ignore it, honestly, but knowing he had an audience made his stomach flop and his heart lurch and his entire body was rebelling, great, this was _fine_.

“What can I get ‘ya,” Eren asked and his voice was warm, like sunlight, like it would melt chocolate into a puddle of sweet goo, like-

Like Levi really, really regretted taking two elective poetry classes in college.

“Well,” Levi said, clearing his throat. He leaned against the edge of the counter, so nervous the toes of his shoes knocked against the side with an audible _thud_. Eren rocked forward to lean against the other side, ducking to peer at Levi, the lines of his neck sleek, his skin golden dark in the lighting. He’d practiced what he’d wanted to say so much that he’d almost blurted it out earlier in the day when Auruo startled him at the coffeemaker, but now that it was curtain call he couldn’t remember how to speak.

Eren quirked an eyebrow at him and Levi pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth before swallowing against, his throat impossibly dry.

“Actually,” Levi said, and later he would be amazed that his voice didn’t shake. “I need a bouquet of flowers that will make the cute guy at the flower shop say yes to dinner with me.”

Silence held reign for a split second before Jean breathed, “ _holy fucking shit_ ,” and promptly bolted to the back of the shop. The sound of the door to the back slamming behind him was loud in the wake of Levi’s bold fucking statement, which had been three days of brainstorming in the making.

Across from him, silent as the grave Levi had visited the week before, Eren stared at him with big, blank eyes. Levi hadn’t realized Eren had moved, but he’d apparently straightened while Jean had been fleeing and Levi’s heart thundered as he curled his suddenly sweaty palms into loose fists on the counter between them. Eren swallowed visibly and Levi mimicked the action, his own throat drier than an old well.

_I don’t think I’ve got this_ , Levi thought, belatedly. Five months of pining and the new knowledge that Eren wasn’t dating Jean had clouded his head, of course Eren wouldn’t want him-

“Roses,” Eren said, his own voice low and rough. Levi jerked out of his miserable spiral into self pity, blinking only to realize Eren was leaning back toward him, pink faced and closer than before. Instead of slumping against the counter on his elbows he was leaning on his hands, towering above Levi with his head tipped down toward him. Another inch and Levi thought he’d be able to feel Eren’s puff of nervous laughter against his lips. The thought made him shiver.

“Roses,” Eren continued, “they’re the most traditional flowers, for, y’know. Trying to, uh. Woo someone.”

Levi all but sagged in relief against the counter, a little nervous laugh of his own bubbling up in his throat. “Roses,” he repeated, nodding. “Then I’ll need a dozen roses and the name of your favorite restaurant, please.”

The flush in Eren’s cheeks spread out to his ears as his mouth worked around words he didn’t say. Levi felt his gut twist at the sight of how flustered his request had made Eren, the shaking in his hands steadying as Eren started to stutter and drag one hand through his already messy hair.

“I, uh-“

“Oh my _god_ ,” Jean said, barging back in and startling both of them into leaping away from the other. Levi almost tripped over a basket of fern arrangements, scrambling to catch himself as Eren squeaked something that sounded like Jean’s name in an adorably scandalized tone. Levi didn’t recognize what Jean was holding until it was shoved into his arms and by that point he could only blink down at the bouquet of deep red roses tied together with ribbon as a flush of embarrassment crept up his cheeks.

“No, shut up, no arguing,” Jean said, grabbing Eren by the arm and hauling him out from behind the counter. He snatched off Eren’s apron from around his waist while he was at it, tossing it behind the counter without looking. “I spent too fucking long listening to you whine, dammit-“

“I don’t get off for another _hour_ ,” Eren sputtered, tripping over his own feet as his face twisted into a scowl. “You can’t just-“

“Yes,” Jean said firmly, “I can.”

Eren opened his mouth to argue back, but Levi wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He reached out, tapping Eren’s shoulder gently, and when the tall, broad shouldered brunette turned his way he extended out the bouquet of roses, smiling wryly as his face burned. He had no doubt Eren could tell that his hands were shaking again, especially since the bouquet trembled with every breath he took.

“I’m covered in _dirt_ ,” Eren whispered, which wasn’t a yes, but it was close. Levi shook a little more visibly when he shrugged.

“I don’t care,” Levi admitted, because while he was usually more tidy than not, but Eren was irritatingly attractive no matter how much dirt he had coating his forearms or jeans. “You’re perfect like this, but if it bothers you I don’t mind waiting…”

Waiting would be the worst kind of torture, but Levi would do it for him. But Eren shook his head, slowly at first but then firmly, and when he reached out for the bouquet he curled his fingers around Levi’s and squeezed, pulling him forward a tiny step until they were toe-to-toe.

“I don’t want to wait,” Eren said, shuddering with a sigh that made Levi lean in a little bit, like gravity had shifted. “I want to go to dinner with you. Now.”

“I want to take you to dinner,” Levi said, “now, actually. What a coincidence.”

Eren’s laughter was as warm and bright as the rest of him, rumbling until it filled every corner of the flower shop the way it always did. Levi felt his chest clench at the sound, his heart tripping over itself at the way Eren took the bouquet from him finally, holding it carefully in one hand while reaching for Levi’s now freed hands with his other.

“What are you doing here,” Jean asked, the following week when Levi stepped through the shop’s door, chime announcing his arrival. The college student was behind the counter and at the sound of his voice a noise came from the door to the back, Eren’s voice raised in curiosity.

Five months of false excuses and for the third time Levi had a legitimate excuse to visit the shop.

“I’m visiting my boyfriend,” he said, loud and clear. Eren stuck his head out the open doorway to the back of the store and grinned at him, a spark of mischief in his eyes as Levi made a show of checking him out head to toe.

“Hey there, hot stuff,” Eren said, smacking dirty palms together to try and knock his hands clean. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Levi told him, raising his voice over the sound of Jean’s horrified gagging about how gross they were. And even though he’d said it partially to bother Jean, because that was a sure-fire way to make Eren laugh, he meant it sincerely, the same way he knew Eren did by the way his grin softened into a small pink-cheeked smile.

**Author's Note:**

> uploaded this to tumblr last night and it was a _way_ bigger hit than I thought it'd be! I'm so touched!!! I'm playing zombies while uploading this, so it's gonna be brief but omg. I literally can't ok. sorry.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this!!! C:


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